Aluminum Only. No brass Allowed

[sarge]

The coupler location is what had me do it as an F34. While perhaps not a perfect match it looked like that car was what the original casting was meant to represent, since the PRR car had draught gear and a very thick buffing beam on the end of the bed, not on the span. They got it right as well, just a different car.

If memory serves, Max also did the car in brass as did Westside. What both of them don't represent is the fact the beds of cars were actually cast on a casting floor; the bottom edge was overlapped sheet in the models while the real ones had a distinct fillet as a single piece cast bed.

[Carey Williams]

Hello all

Mi- Loco ...Mr Lee B Green was big into aluminum ... displaying his ware at the 1934 Chicago World's Fair ...and wide spread sales the following year ...promoting 17/64ths ..the "Truescale" for O gauge ...he found many 17/64ths advocates ... including the 1st president of the NMRA ...but not quite enough support to win the war .

Here are Green's monster of the rails K4 and Hudson ...

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a mystery aluminum Pullman ...cast in halves .... not Mi-Loco ..not Alexander ... Acme had some aluminum cars early on ..perhaps ? ...

Cheers Carey

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[Carey Williams]

Hello aluminum fans ..

Alexander was a big fan of aluminum castings ..offering a lovey set of cars that were all cast ...so heavy and expensive ....few years later offering cast sides , wood roof , floor ...and cast under detail ..cheaper and lighter ....also many cast freight cars .. Mi-Loco offered a cast Pullman , box , tank and hopper all in glorious 17/64ths ..there is also a mystery cast Pullman.... very light rivet detail ...AC partial roof ....Acme? ... Crovan ? Cheers Carey

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[bob turner]

Thanks! That is an impressive collection.

[bob turner]

I only have three Alexander cars - and would probably have none if it weren't for Maroon and Carey. But other folks made aluminum castings - I must have eight or so drop center flats, including two Walthers and one modified All Nation. Lemme see here . . .

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And the Walthers:

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Finally the altered All Nation:

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[Carey Williams]

Hello all ..nice flat cars Bob

Here is a mystery that was delivered at the March meet ... nicely cast body ...no markings ..any ideas ? Totally wild drive ...and yes it runs

Cheers Carey

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[Jay Criswell]

I suppose pot metal (zmak) doesn't count either.

I don't do a lot of 3R to 2R because of the way so many were designed. Some of the newer Lionel have a more conventional drive and I will do them. Still not my favorite thing to do but sometimes, if the stars are aligned incorrectly, I 'll begrudgingly do them. This is a little mogul I agreed to do. Lots of little issues encountered along the way but it's done and ready to go home. I don't know where the owner got the drivers and I don't care for the tires and flanges but, sometimes you work with what you're given. NWSL .5 mod ball bearing gearbox (yeah, it had issues too). The owner will supply, and install, the motor.

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Jay

[sarge]

Jay, those Moguls Lionel did have a fun history to them. They are B&M prototype and very nice models of them (though Lionel generi-cised them a bit in later runs). It would appear they got an HO brass one and had it copied, scaled up by twice to (you guessed it) 1/43.5, which is UK O scale and very near 1/45 (17/64), the same error Atlas made with their Trainman RS3 and RSD5 (oh, how Jim Weaver denied that!).

Grin!

[Jay Criswell]

So, what you're saying is, SP's M-21 is no longer the largest Mogul ever...at least not in the world of O Scale!

Jay

[bob turner]

I love it! 17/64 scale, by accident!

The gearboxes produced after Raoul sold can be easily fixed by wrapping a #J drill with 400 sandpaper and sliding the partially assembled gearbox along it until it mates the axle bearing. Not sure you want a brass axle gear - if bronze, it will work for a very long time - if brass, one hour.

[bob turner]

Just captured another cast car - I think it is sand cast aluminum. Maybe five or six "Scale Model Railways" cars hit eBay last week, and I half-heartedly bid on one. What a beautiful model, for an 80 year old production! Photo soon. If more pop up, I shall bid again.

[Carey Williams]

Hello all ...Bob have fun with your new Megow / SMR cast car . The seller was local here ...so I ran over and picked up a few cars ..myself ..all had the post war Wheaton address on the boxes ... seller had quite a number of them .. Jim DeBruin did a nice article covering the cars in "O Scale Trains" Sept/Oct 2015 issue . Cars first offered in 1940 by Megow ..Hungtington , Ind division ...post war 1947 .. cars offered now in Wheaton , Il .....odd same town as Matthews with his growing GMC empire ..
Here is a page from the 1940 Megow catalog and 4 of the cast cars

Cheers Carey

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[bob turner]

That answers why they disappeared from eBay! I think there were a few more box cars in the original offering. Carey and I are lucky to capture these old treasures. Except for the ladder and grabiron rungs, I think these would stand up well in a string of All Nation cars.

Thanks for the history lesson. I tried to do a search for "Scale Model Railways" and got nada - except for the usual internet sites that will sell anything I ask for, no matter how obscure.